How The Sugar Industry Hid Negative Health Impacts Of Sugar For More Than 60 Years

How The Sugar Industry Hid Negative Health Impacts Of Sugar For More Than 60 Years

Image Credit: Pixabay

The food and beverage industry hid truths about the ill-effects of consuming sugar for more than 60 years, according to a research paper by PLOS Biology.

This “manipulation of data” by Sugar Research Foundation (SRF), now known as International Sugar Research Foundation (ISRF), a trade association in the United States, delayed the research in the treatment of negative health impacts of sucrose.

“In 1970, SRF withheld information from the public that the microbiome may be an important contributing factor to sucrose-induced hypertriglyceridemia and that sucrose consumption, compared to starch, might be associated with bladder cancer,” says the paper.

Sugar lobbyists have consistently denied that sucrose has any metabolic effects related to chronic disease beyond its caloric effects.

In 2016, the Sugar Association, a United States sucrose industry trade association, which has tied with ISRF, criticised findings from a study published in Cancer Research which suggested that dietary sugar induces increased tumour growth and metastasis when compared to a non-sugar starch diet. The Sugar Association stated that “no credible link between ingested sugars and cancer has been established.”

The paper says ISRF was aware of peer-reviewed published animal evidence suggesting a role of intestinal microbiota in the differential effects of sucrose and starch on blood lipids (fatty acids and cholesterol).

However, the study termed as “Project 259” had its funds terminated by ISRF before it could be completed.

This incidental finding of Project 259 demonstrated to SRF that sucrose versus starch consumption caused different metabolic effects and suggested that sucrose, by stimulating urinary beta-glucuronidase, may have a role in the pathogenesis of bladder cancer, the report says.

Based on ISRF’s interpretation of preliminary results, extending Project 259’s funding would have been unfavourable to the sugar industry’s commercial interests.

“The study in question ended for three reasons, none of which involved potential research findings,” said Sugar Association, a trade group based in Washington, D.C. that has organizational ties to the Sugar Research Foundation, in a statement.

In addition, publication of results suggesting an association between sucrose consumption and bladder cancer would likely have had further adverse regulatory implications to the sugar industry, the paper says. As of 1958, the US Food Additives Amendment stated that any food found to cause cancer when ingested by animals was grounds for removal from the Food and Drug Administration’s list of foods generally recognized as safe (GRAS), it continued.

The paper informs that the negative health effects of sugar – cancer, coronary heart disease, addiction akin to drug addiction – could have been studied and solutions found had the sugar industry not veiled facts.

Last year, The Logical Indian reported here that the sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to downplay the link between sugar and heart disease and promoted saturated fat as the culprit instead.

The Sugar Association paid three Harvard scientists the equivalent of US$50,000 (< Rs 30 lakh) in today’s dollars to publish a 1967 review of sugar, fat and heart research though the researchers never publicly disclosed that funding source, per a research by Dr. Cristin Kearns at the University of California.

That was an era when researchers were battling over which dietary culprit — sugar or fat — was contributing to the deaths of many Americans, especially men, from coronary heart disease, the buildup of plaque in arteries of the heart, a condition called atherosclerosis. Kearns said the papers, which the trade group later cited in pamphlets provided to policymakers, aided the industry’s plan to increase sugar’s market share by convincing Americans to eat a low-fat high-sugar diet.

“Is it really true that food companies deliberately set out to manipulate research in their favour? Yes, it is, and the practice continues,” Nestle added, noting that Coca-Cola and candy makers have both tried recently to influence nutrition research.

Same as this year, Sugar Association maintained that it is being unfairly criticized.

The Logical Indian community urges consumers to practise strictness when it comes to consuming any food with sugar. Apart from heart diseases and cancer, excessive sugar intake also leads to obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Our health comes first and it is our responsibility to be more concerned about what we are consuming, all the while spreading awareness about the same.

Global Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Level Highest In More Than 3 Million Years: UN

Uttar Pradesh: Farmer Get 1 Paisa As A Loan Relief, More Than 10,000 Get Waiver Of Less Than Rs 100

Partner Story

Be A True Ally To The Women In Your Life #ShareTheLoad

Women empowerment is one of the most important words of the present times. It is not a mere phrase but it rather represents a movement, which has been pending for the longest time. However, many have a misconception that educating women, “letting” them work, etc. is all that women empowerment is all about. However, the concept of women empowerment is more of an umbrella term. It intends to involve society as a whole, including men.

We always encourage and applaud a woman who successfully balances both work life and her household. But won’t it be easy for that woman if the load of the work is shared? We see that in our society a woman’s primary role is seen as that of a homemaker. At the same time, her personal likes, aspirations, and dreams are forced to be put on the backburner because of the undue expectation that she has to single handedly manage the household while balancing her career. To give credit where it is due, the times are changing. Men and women of the house are increasingly sharing the workload. However, one can also not turn a blind to the fact that a lot more still needs to be done.

Driving home the same concept, popular brand Ariel has come up with brilliant communication.

The video shows a mother speaking to her married daughter over the phone, all whilst cleaning the mess her son has created. She is absolutely heartbroken when her daughter says that she plans to quit her job since juggling both a demanding job and her household has become too overwhelming. It is during this time that she realises that while she and her husband as parents left no stone unturned to give an all-round upbringing to their daughter, they somewhere forgot to teach their son some basic life skills like cooking and doing laundry so that they grow out to be equally responsible in doing household chores. This is not a story of just one family, but of families across the country. These are some things which everyone must know, not for any other reason, but simply because these are basic tasks which are absolutely essential to survive. And, they make you capable to be equal partners tomorrow!

As Ariel raises an important question-is household work only a woman’s job? We need to ask ourselves the same question. A recent study revealed that the unpaid work done by women around the world amounted to 43 times the annual turnover of Apple Inc. It is high time we share the load and change the narrative that household work is the “duty” of a woman. As the video shows, contributing to the household work is not only a daughter’s work, but the son must contribute his bit too. It is also important for the parents to instil a sense of responsibility in their children, irrespective of their gender so that at any juncture of their lives, they are not completely dependent on another person for basic tasks like these. Ariel has been consistently driving this message and addressing the inequality within households since 2015. The Logical Indian applauds Ariel for coming up with such a brilliant video for depicting such an important concept.